Citizen Watch is a publication of Tri-Valley CAREs
[ CERRIE website | CERRIE Preliminary Report 8jul03 ]
There is no doubt, according to a new report leaked to the "New Scientist" magazine, that radiation emitted by plutonium and other radionuclides may cause much more damage to human cells than was previously believed.
The report, due to be released in the next several months, was produced by the Committee Examining Radiation Risks from Internal Emitters (CERRIE). The committee was composed of 12 specialists from the British government's National Radiological Protection Board, the nuclear industry, universities and environmental groups.
All CERRIE members reportedly agreed that, "the margin of uncertainty over the risks of plutonium inside the body could extend over at least an order of magnitude."
The CERRIE report raises the profile of recent scientific discoveries about the less obvious effects of low-level radiation. For example, descendants of cells that appear to be unharmed by radiation may, in fact, suffer delayed damage. This is referred to as "genomic instability," and it carries major implications for how the biological impacts of so-called "low-level" radiation exposures are calculated. (Note that research into genomic instability has also been previously reported in "New Scientist" and other journals, and copies are available at the Tri-Valley CAREs office.)
Additionally, scientific experiments are showing that cells located near irradiated cells can also be damaged by a phenomenon called "the bystander effect."
We often call this "the neighborhood effect," a term coined by Marion Fulk, a retired Livermore Lab physicist and science advisor to Tri-Valley CAREs. And, according to "New Scientist," small pieces of DNA, called mini-satellites, that are passed from one generation to another show an increase in the number of mutations.
The concern is that these effects could result in cancer and a wide variety of other illnesses. Therefore, says CERRIE, the cancer risk from exposure to plutonium inside the body could be 10 times higher than is allowed for in calculating international safety limits.
The CERRIE report, and other new scientific research showing that the current "allowable limits" used by regulatory agencies may not be sufficiently protective of human health, should be taken into consideration when analyzing operations at Livermore Lab.
For example, if plutonium exposure is more harmful than previously calculated, our government agencies should take a fresh look at the question of who received the plutonium-contaminated sludge released by the Lab and distributed free to residents between 1958 and 1974. Pu-239 has a half-life of 24,000 years, making this an issue of current and future as well as past exposures.
The proposal to more than double the plutonium limit at Livermore Lab to 3,300 pounds becomes even more alarming when seen through the lens of this new research. The CERRIE report provides all the more reason to move Livermore Lab in the opposite direction; that is, toward terminating its plutonium work.
Already, there have been numerous re-ports citing security deficiencies involving plutonium at Livermore Lab. And, the General Accounting Office and others have strongly criticized the DOE's ability to respond to a terror attack at Livermore. Under fire, DOE Secretary Spencer Abraham recently agreed to study whether special nuclear materials should be removed from Livermore.
A decision whether to de-inventory the plutonium at Livermore is supposed to be forthcoming from Abraham's office in 2005. However, the DOE decision on whether to more than double the plutonium storage limit at Livermore Lab is also due in 2005. Can anyone say "mutually incompatible?"
The CERRIE report is a wake up call locally – and to the 7 million people living within a 50-mile radius of Liver-more Lab. We hope CERRIE's findings will help in our efforts to ramp down the plutonium activities at Livermore Lab, obtain cleanup and relief for families that have contaminated sludge in their gar-dens and get justice for sick and dying workers and community members.
We invite you to join us in these efforts! See, also, the enclosed workshop flier.
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